This invention is concerned with turbines and fluid pressurizers, where a free vortex is used within a rotating rotor to pressurize a working fluid.
In my previous U.S. Pat. No. 3,879,152, "TURBINE," and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,223, "REACTION ROTOR TURBINE," I had described turbines where a free vortex cavity within a rotating rotor is used to create a free vortex where a working fluid is pressurized by centrifugal action. These turbines have relatively high friction losses within the rotor free vortex cavity due to the necessity of using relatively small cavities in many instances, with accompanying large velocity differentials between the working fluid and the rotor wall confining the working fluid. There are various ways to help to reduce the friction loss, and one such is to increase the fluid flow. To obtain the necessary increased fluid flow, within the free vortex cavity, recirculation may be used.
It is an object of this invention to provide a method and apparatus, to pressurize fluids within a rotor cavity, and to generate power, where a portion of the working fluid flowing through said cavity is recirculated using passages built into the rotor to pass the fluid from the area near rotor periphery into forwardly discharging nozzles located inward toward rotor center from the rotor periphery. It is also the object of this invention to provide a pumping means to pressurize fluids.